Bullet



July l2,` 1949. w. 1i. MooRE Erm. l 475632 BULLET j Filed March 19, i942 Wiley 'T Mnmre Wilfred Ehhndaau.

Patented July l2, 1949 BULLET Application March 19, 194:2,l Serial'. No. 435,318

(Cl. IGZ-90) (Granted under the act of Marchv 3,. 1.883, as

amended April 30, 1928;, 370 0. G. 757) 8 Claims.

The invention., describedl herein may be manufactured and usedA byor for the Government for governmental purposes Without. the payment to us. of. any royaltythereon.

Thisinventionrelates to abullet, and in particular to a. bullet for use; with small and medium arms. While the bullet` may be loaded partly or, wholly with highI explosive, it is intendedl principally as. a carrier foi-incendiary material.

In a properly designed bullet the modern types ofA incendiary compositions will ignite on impact without any special percussionl mechanism. The Conditions of intended use of the bullet will in largo measureaiect. the design thereof. For exy amp1e a successful attack onthe gasoline tank of an airplane requiresthatthe incendiary powers oi a bullet beeiective after it has passed through an outer armor and traversed some distance therebeyond., This may be.- accomplished by delaying. ignitiony beyond initial. impact or by maintaining the incendiary outburst for a time after initiation. Ther bullet of the invention is well adapted to accomplish the latter although it is not intended to be limited to such functioning.

Itis known to use a hollow bullet with thin nose and lled with. incendiary material. Such bullets, however, are not designed for penetration, but are, entirely collapsibleon impact and. therefore limited in use with respect topresentday requirements.. The bullet of the invention provides a reinforcement in the form. of an inner sleeve whchis eicaci'ous in many respects even. though thev precise phenomena basically responsible for its successful employment are not entirely understood.. It would appear, however, that the rein.- forcing sleeve serves to.. retain the forino-f` the main body of the bullet while penetration of the target is effected after initiation; and it would further appear that there is some sort of coaction between the forward edge of the sleeve and the ogive which conspires to produce a more effective initiation of the incendiary composition than is usual with a simple, loaded, hollow shell, the sleeve being more or less free to advance in advance of the bullet body as the ogive is checked in ight and collapsed.

It is therefore an object of the invention to produce a, charged bullet which will preserve its body form during penetration.

It is a further object of the invention to produce a reinforced incendiary bullet.

It is a further object of the invention to produce a hollow bullet having an inner sleeve reinlfoiflzeiirient movable relative to the body of the Ity isa further object of. the inventionv to produce.- an incendiary bullet effective to ignite a target after. penetration of anouter armor there- To, these and. other ends, the invention consists in. the construction, arrangement and combinationr of. elements. described hereinafter and pointed outin the claims forming a part of this specication..

A practical embodiment of the inventionl is: illustrated in. the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in. axial section of a bullet embodying one form of theinvention, and

Figures 2 3 and 4.v are fragmentary sectional views. showingv modiiications.

Referringr tothe drawing by. characters of reference there is shown ajacket which in the pre.- ferred. form is of gilding. metaly but which maybe of' any suitable material, a lead lining 2 andr an inner sleeve 3 of. toughmaterial, preferably steel. This sleeve may be. keyed to the projectile body proper, but preferably it will be movable with re.- spect` thereto under forces of the order of those engendered on impact..

The. lead liningt isshown as terminating coin.- cident with the ends. of the.v steel sleeve but oil course this lining may be. longer or shorter and'A of different. thicknesses. In. particular the: lining may. be omitted. and .theprojectile body may be, composed; of. the. steel sleevev alone as shown at ltin. Figure. 3.

Whilethe steel sleeve is shown as having an annular. protuberance. 5y (Fig-ure to promote ringon impact, thesize. or shape may be varied',

and, in particular, maybe omittedy as shown in:

Figure 2.. Thesteel. sleeve shou-ldextend to, and preferably somewhatinto the ogive and is adapted to bullets of varying proiile with long or short ogives, the bullet shown with long ogive being for illustrative purposes only. A main function of the steel sleeve is to preserve the body portion from disruption, but it has been found that better detonation results are obtained if the sleeve extends into the ogive.

Included in the ogive and within steel sleeve 3 is the incendiary composition 6 which may be loaded in any convenient manner, for instance, by pouring in increments and pressing, or by inserting preformed pellets. The charge may be incendiary composition or high explosive or a combination of increments of both arranged to suit any particular purpose.

A steel disk 'l is provided over the rear of the sleeve and lining to protect the charge against the effects of propellent gases and the rear end is secured in any convenient manner as by the screwed cap 8 of Figure 1 or by turning over the jacket l as shown in Figure 4.

We claim:

1. A projectile comprising an outer jacket having a body portion and an ogival portion, a tubular sleeve in said projectile occupying said body portion but terminating short of the point of said ogival portion, and a charge in said ogive and within said tubular sleeve said sleeve being separate from said jacket and slidable forwardly relatively thereto on impact and crushing of said ogive.

2. A projectile comprising an outer jacket having a body portion and an ogival portion, a tubular sleeve in said projectile occupying said body portion but terminating short of the point of said ogival portion, a lead lining between said sleeve and said jacket, and a charge in said ogive and within said tubular sleeve.

3. A projectile comprising an outer jacket having a body portion and an ogival portion, a tubular steel sleeve Within and nesting with said jacket, said sleeve occupying said body portion but terminating short of the point of said ogival portion, said tubular sleeve said sleeve being separate from said jacket and slidable forwardly relatively thereto on impact and crushing of said ogive.

4. A projectile comprising an outer jacket having a body portion and an ogival portion, a tubular sleeve in said projectile occupying said body portion but terminating short of the point of said ogival portion, a lead lining between said sleeve and said jacket, the interface between said sleeve and said lining being defined by a cylindrical surface whereby said tube is conditioned to move forward relative to said lining on impact.

5. A projectile comprising an outer jacket having a body portion and an ogival portion, a tubular steel sleeve in said projectile slidably fitting said jacket, said sleeve occupying said body portion and extending into the ogival portion but terminating short of the point thereof and an incendiary charge in said ogival portion.

6 In a projectile, a jacket having a smooth exterior formed by a cylindrical portion tapering at one end to a point to thereby form an ogival portion, said portions joining in a plane normal to the axis of said cylindrical portion, a tubular steel sleeve in said jacket and substantially coextensive with and coaxial of said cylindrical portion, said sleeve terminating between said plane and point and being separate from said jacket and slidable forwardly relatively thereto on imof said ogival portion.

pact and crushing and a charge in said ogive and within- 7. In projectile, a jacket having a smooth exterior formed by a substantially cylindrical portion tapering at one end to form an ogival portion, a tubular steel sleeve in said jacket and positioned with its axis coincident with the axis of said jacket, said sleeve being of less outer diameter than the inside diameter of said cylindrical portion and having its rear end substantially coincident with the rear of said jacket, and its for'- ward end terminating within said ogival portion'- crushing of the nose of said jacket.

8. In a projectile, a jacket having a smooth exterior formed by a cylindrical portion tapering at one end to a point to thereby form an ogival portion, said portions joining in a plane normal to the of said cylindrical portion, a tubular steel sleeve in said jacket and substantially coextensive with and coaxial of said cylindrical portion. said sleeve terminating between said plane and point and being separate from said jacket and slidable forwardly relatively thereto on impact and crushing of said ogival portion, said sleeve having an outer diameter less than the inner diameter of said jacket whereby to form a space between said sleeve and jacket, annular in cross section, and a lead lining filling said annular space.

WILEY T. MOORE. WILF'RED E. THIBODEAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,223,634 Steinmetz Apr. 24, 1917 1,294,329 Bowers Feb. 11, 1919 1,333,834 Clay Mar. 16, 1920 2,358,899 W'lson Sept. 26,1944 2,364,643 Moore Dec. 12, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 275,822 Great Britain Aug. 18, 1927 

